China to start producing ultra-fast photonic computer chips

Beijing. Jul 12. Silkroadnews - In the new chip the electrons are replaced by photons of light, which makes it incomparably faster than the previous ones, a test production line is expected to be launched this year, China Daily reports.
According to Shanghai-based scientists, who made the breakthroughs, the production line will put China among the world’s countries capable of producing photonic chips, which will allow achieving a speed of operation that cannot be achieved by the current chips.
Preliminary testing confirms that the research team has mastered the means to produce such chips, and orders come from both Chinese and foreign companies.
“Our long-term goal is to help domestic enterprises stop relying on imports. And the global market also has big potential demand for our product,” the agency quoted saying by Yu Mingbin, head of the research group at the Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Chips are considered particularly useful in areas related to transmission of information, such as smart phones, computers, autonomous vehicles and ultra-high-definition TV. The speed of data processing is greatly improved, while energy consumption is reduced.
“Individual end users will also notice big changes in their electronic gadgets - faster computers and mobile phones, and less time to download movies,” Yu said.
The research team said, at present fewer than 10 companies in the world are capable of producing such chips, and all of them are based in the United States. Some European countries, Singapore and Japan are also racing to master the techniques, the report reads.